This Trangender Student Is Suing His High School for Not Letting Him Use the Boys' Restroom

He didn't have any issues until community members started calling him a "freak."

When a Virginia student decided to come out as transgender at school, everyone was accepting at first. But then, school officials made a shocking decision—and now he's suing to get his rights back.

Gavin Grimm told his school he was transitioning at the beginning of his sophomore year, and his school was initially accepting; he used the boys' restroom for nearly two months without any issues. But then parents and local residents complained, calling him a "freak" and a "young lady" who could cause mayhem at school. So now, he either has to hold it in all day, or go to the nurse's or teacher's restroom.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

"It's very stressful and humiliating," Gavin told ABC News. "It makes it impossible for me to live as myself peacefully. The issue has outed me on grand scale, which should never have to happen to anyone."

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU's Virginia branch sued the Gloucester County School Board, saying their policy discriminates against transgender students by segregating them from their classmates. They had already filed a complaint with the Department of Justice and the Department of Education, but those investigations are still in progress.

"The school board's policy is deeply stigmatizing and needlessly cruel," Joshua Block, attorney with the ACLU, said in a press release. "Any student –transgender or not – should be free to use single-stall restrooms if they want extra privacy. Instead of protecting the privacy of all students, the school board has chosen to single out transgender students as unfit to use the same restrooms as everyone else." The group would like a judge to rule by the beginning of Gavin's senior year. So far, the school board has not released any official statement about the lawsuit online.